Post by John Chanin on Apr 24, 2020 10:54:50 GMT
North Birmingham is very cut off from the rest of the city by the M6. It actually merges quite indistinguishably into Sutton Coldfield in the north, despite the fierce parochialism of the latter, who have defended the irrational border to the death at successive boundary reviews. The west part of north Birmingham is in the Perry Barr seat. This seat contains the rest of it.
Starting from the east we have Castle Vale. This consists entirely of a peripheral council estate built originally in the 1960s. It has an interesting history - it was basically a field full of tower blocks, very isolated from the rest of the city by the Tame Valley corridor and the M6 to the south, the large Tyburn industrial estate to the west, the sewage works at Minworth to the east, and the dual carriageway A38 Kingsbury Road to the north, which forms its only link to the rest of the city. The castle by the way is the one that used to sit on top of the hill on the other side of the Tame at Castle Bromwich, although it no longer exists. In the 1990s the estate was passed over to a Trust under the Conservative governments Housing Action Trust programme, which aimed to deal with failed council estates by redeveloping them outwith council control. The tower blocks were virtually all knocked down and the estate redeveloped with pleasant low-rise housing, but quite dense as all the tenants in the towers needed new homes, with plenty of flat blocks as well as houses. The Trust still manages the estate, so it counts as “other” social housing. The estate is still a bit bleak, but the housing is much better quality than on the other peripheral estates. West, surrounding its large park is the Pype Hayes estate, modern redevelopment, and mostly council housing with much right to buy, with inter-war semis on its east. The park contains Pype Hayes Hall - a listed Stuart mansion.
In the centre is Erdington proper, surrounding the main suburban shopping centre for North Birmingham. This is a suburban area dominated by 3 bedroom houses, with much post-war development, and some scattered council housing. There is some older housing around the centre of Erdington, and a large council estate with tower blocks south of Short Heath park at the northern end. The area is more than three quarters white, with a sizeable Irish element, and is socially very average for Birmingham. This is a middle middle class area, little affected by the inner city. South of Erdington is Gravelly Hill, stretching north from Spaghetti junction alonside its eponymous road. Although there are some large older houses here, this is mostly inter-war development, with quite a lot of post-war houses along both sides of the cross-city railway line which forms the boundary with Stockland Green. The main part of Stockland Green has larger houses in tree-lined streets as you travel north, with brand new housing adjacent to Northcroft hospital. On the west there is a mixture of council and private housing alongside Brookvale Park and Witton lakes, which make this a pleasant low density residential area. It is only half white, with a much higher asian and black population than the rest of the seat. All in all it is a very average and unremarkable chunk of Birmingham, slightly down market from Erdington.
The north-west of the seat is very distinctive. It contains the oldest of Birmingham’s peripheral estates, and one of the largest in the form of Kingstanding. This is an inter-war “cottage” council housing estate, with wide roads and trees, where there has been very heavy right to buy of the well-built houses, characteristically in short terraces. There are some privately developed inter-war terraces and semis along the border with Sutton Coldfield, and more modern council housing at Perry Common. There is still around 40% social rented housing here, with high levels of routine work, and high unemployment and deprivation, but it is mainly white, like Castle Vale, and this affects its politics.
Overall this is a very working class seat with high levels of people in routine jobs, and low educational qualifications. Despite this the area has recently proved fertile ground for the Conservatives at local elections. Both the large council estates at opposite ends of the constituency returned Conservative councillors in 2018, as did Erdington itself. Kingstanding in particular was once a safe Labour area, but was worked for years by Gary Sambrook, now the new MP for Northfield, finally winning the ward in 2014. It voted 71% Leave at the referendum which no doubt is a factor. In Labour’s dog days at the end of the 2000s they even lost Stockland Green. However Labour managed a comeback at the 2022 local elections, winning 7 councillors to the Conservatives 3.
The Conservatives had some hope of winning here in 2019, but local votes don’t necessarily convert into national votes, and Jack Dromey was returned comfortably in the end. Dromey, a former senior union official with the TGWU, and the husband of Harriet Harman, was first elected here in 2010, at the unusually advanced age of 61. Dromey’s sudden and unexpected death in January 2022 led to a by-election, won comfortably by Paulette Hamilton, a nurse and local councillor, on a low turnout.
Unfortunately the present seat aligned to new ward boundaries was short of the minimum size, while the whole of Birmingham north of the M6 is too large. The initial proposals from the Boundary Commission therefore removed the Kingstanding ward, adding the Aston and Lozells area from the inner city to the south. This would have created an odd shaped seat with little in common between its parts. Following consultation they have adopted a much more sensible approach, splitting the Stockland Green ward and transferring the southern half to Perry Barr, while including the Oscott ward in the north-west corner, currently out on a limb in Perry Barr. While it is undesirable to split Stockland Green this looks like the best solution in an area where there is no really good answer. Oscott was split at the last council elections, while Stockland Green is the safest Labour ward in the seat, so this change will improve the Conservative chances, but not likely by enough to make the seat into a genuine winning prospect.
Census data: owner-occupied 53% (502/573 in England & Wales), private rented 17% (194th), social rented 29% (47th).
:White 73%, Black 10%, Sth Asian 8%, Mixed 6%, Other 3%
: Managerial & professional 26% (519th), Routine & Semi-routine 42% (37th)
: Degree 17% (525th), Minimal qualifications 48% (29th)
: Students 5% (170th), Over 65: 14% (443rd)
Starting from the east we have Castle Vale. This consists entirely of a peripheral council estate built originally in the 1960s. It has an interesting history - it was basically a field full of tower blocks, very isolated from the rest of the city by the Tame Valley corridor and the M6 to the south, the large Tyburn industrial estate to the west, the sewage works at Minworth to the east, and the dual carriageway A38 Kingsbury Road to the north, which forms its only link to the rest of the city. The castle by the way is the one that used to sit on top of the hill on the other side of the Tame at Castle Bromwich, although it no longer exists. In the 1990s the estate was passed over to a Trust under the Conservative governments Housing Action Trust programme, which aimed to deal with failed council estates by redeveloping them outwith council control. The tower blocks were virtually all knocked down and the estate redeveloped with pleasant low-rise housing, but quite dense as all the tenants in the towers needed new homes, with plenty of flat blocks as well as houses. The Trust still manages the estate, so it counts as “other” social housing. The estate is still a bit bleak, but the housing is much better quality than on the other peripheral estates. West, surrounding its large park is the Pype Hayes estate, modern redevelopment, and mostly council housing with much right to buy, with inter-war semis on its east. The park contains Pype Hayes Hall - a listed Stuart mansion.
In the centre is Erdington proper, surrounding the main suburban shopping centre for North Birmingham. This is a suburban area dominated by 3 bedroom houses, with much post-war development, and some scattered council housing. There is some older housing around the centre of Erdington, and a large council estate with tower blocks south of Short Heath park at the northern end. The area is more than three quarters white, with a sizeable Irish element, and is socially very average for Birmingham. This is a middle middle class area, little affected by the inner city. South of Erdington is Gravelly Hill, stretching north from Spaghetti junction alonside its eponymous road. Although there are some large older houses here, this is mostly inter-war development, with quite a lot of post-war houses along both sides of the cross-city railway line which forms the boundary with Stockland Green. The main part of Stockland Green has larger houses in tree-lined streets as you travel north, with brand new housing adjacent to Northcroft hospital. On the west there is a mixture of council and private housing alongside Brookvale Park and Witton lakes, which make this a pleasant low density residential area. It is only half white, with a much higher asian and black population than the rest of the seat. All in all it is a very average and unremarkable chunk of Birmingham, slightly down market from Erdington.
The north-west of the seat is very distinctive. It contains the oldest of Birmingham’s peripheral estates, and one of the largest in the form of Kingstanding. This is an inter-war “cottage” council housing estate, with wide roads and trees, where there has been very heavy right to buy of the well-built houses, characteristically in short terraces. There are some privately developed inter-war terraces and semis along the border with Sutton Coldfield, and more modern council housing at Perry Common. There is still around 40% social rented housing here, with high levels of routine work, and high unemployment and deprivation, but it is mainly white, like Castle Vale, and this affects its politics.
Overall this is a very working class seat with high levels of people in routine jobs, and low educational qualifications. Despite this the area has recently proved fertile ground for the Conservatives at local elections. Both the large council estates at opposite ends of the constituency returned Conservative councillors in 2018, as did Erdington itself. Kingstanding in particular was once a safe Labour area, but was worked for years by Gary Sambrook, now the new MP for Northfield, finally winning the ward in 2014. It voted 71% Leave at the referendum which no doubt is a factor. In Labour’s dog days at the end of the 2000s they even lost Stockland Green. However Labour managed a comeback at the 2022 local elections, winning 7 councillors to the Conservatives 3.
The Conservatives had some hope of winning here in 2019, but local votes don’t necessarily convert into national votes, and Jack Dromey was returned comfortably in the end. Dromey, a former senior union official with the TGWU, and the husband of Harriet Harman, was first elected here in 2010, at the unusually advanced age of 61. Dromey’s sudden and unexpected death in January 2022 led to a by-election, won comfortably by Paulette Hamilton, a nurse and local councillor, on a low turnout.
Unfortunately the present seat aligned to new ward boundaries was short of the minimum size, while the whole of Birmingham north of the M6 is too large. The initial proposals from the Boundary Commission therefore removed the Kingstanding ward, adding the Aston and Lozells area from the inner city to the south. This would have created an odd shaped seat with little in common between its parts. Following consultation they have adopted a much more sensible approach, splitting the Stockland Green ward and transferring the southern half to Perry Barr, while including the Oscott ward in the north-west corner, currently out on a limb in Perry Barr. While it is undesirable to split Stockland Green this looks like the best solution in an area where there is no really good answer. Oscott was split at the last council elections, while Stockland Green is the safest Labour ward in the seat, so this change will improve the Conservative chances, but not likely by enough to make the seat into a genuine winning prospect.
Census data: owner-occupied 53% (502/573 in England & Wales), private rented 17% (194th), social rented 29% (47th).
:White 73%, Black 10%, Sth Asian 8%, Mixed 6%, Other 3%
: Managerial & professional 26% (519th), Routine & Semi-routine 42% (37th)
: Degree 17% (525th), Minimal qualifications 48% (29th)
: Students 5% (170th), Over 65: 14% (443rd)
2010 | % | 2015 | % | 2017 | % | 2019 | % | |
Labour | 14,869 | 41.8% | 15,824 | 45.6% | 21,571 | 58.0% | 17,720 | 50.3% |
Conservative | 11,592 | 32.6% | 10,695 | 30.8% | 14,286 | 38.4% | 14,119 | 40.1% |
Liberal Democrat | 5,742 | 16.2% | 965 | 2.8% | 750 | 2.0% | 1,301 | 3.7% |
UKIP/Brexit | 842 | 2.4% | 6,040 | 17.4% | 1,441 | 4.1% | ||
Green | 948 | 2.7% | 610 | 1.6% | 648 | 1.8% | ||
| BNP/NF | 2,044 | 5.8% | ||||||
Others | 457 | 1.3% | 212 | 0.6% | ||||
Majority | 3,277 | 9.2% | 5,129 | 14.8% | 7,285 | 19.6% | 3,601 | 10.2% |
